Boeing Dreamliner draws outline of itself over US, sending internet into a frenzy

The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner made an 18-hour-long trip from Seattle and back

Aviation geeks who switched on their favourite flight-tracking apps on Thursday were thrilled to find that a Boeing plane had drawn its own shape over the United States as it completed an 18-hour flight from Seattle and back.

The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner took off from Seattle on Wednesday afternoon and flew about 2,000 miles to Marquette, Michigan. It then immediately turned back and flew southwest to South Dakota, cruised for a while and headed south toward Nevada.

As avid plane watchers turned to flight tracking apps to figure out what was going on with the plane and its odd itinerary, it became clear that the pilot was drawing the Boeing’s outline in the sky.

https://twitter.com/SteveGrzanich/status/893127737686274050

18hr boeing dreamliner test flight!!! pic.twitter.com/z0jA41NDoI

— Keyk 🌹 (@keykmcf) August 3, 2017

https://twitter.com/WHAS11Jared/status/893134812533460992

People took to social media to ponder what was going on: Was it a test flight? Stealth advertising for the Dreamliner? A gratuitous use of fuel? Perhaps the pilot was drunk, one person joked.



Memes were floated.

https://twitter.com/CraigA11en/status/893133543030784000

Records show that the Dreamliner is registered to the Boeing Corporation. According to The Washington Post, Boeing representatives did not immediately return an email request for comment Thursday morning.

However, an NBC News producer said on Twitter that Boeing had confirmed the flight.

https://twitter.com/MCappetta/status/893140612958101504

The company has been known for getting creative on mandatory test flights for new planes before. Earlier this year, pilots testing a new Boeing 737 MAX plane flew more than 3,400 miles to write “MAX” over Washington state and Montana.

The Flight Path of the final test flight of the brand new @Boeing 737 MAX. Took 8-hours of flying to spell MAX over WA, ID & MT pic.twitter.com/YqA18Pt7HK

— Brian Wesbury (@wesbury) February 12, 2017

 

According to Flightradar24, a site that tracks live air traffic globally, unusual flight patterns are not uncommon. The reasons for such patterns can include pilots conducting aerial surveys, calibrating instrument landing systems, holding for airport congestion, avoiding bad weather or just having fun sometimes.

The plane finally descended after an almost 18-hour-long flight on Thursday morning.

After 17.5 hours in the air, #BOE004 now descending for landing in Seattle. Not a bad day’s work.

📡
https://t.co/ltUSXWvJ2a pic.twitter.com/GsWMSIxLtf

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 3, 2017